Vroom and Board
by clagjanet
Summary: In "The First Time", Amanda mentions that the boys' dentist is just around the corner from t he Agency. What could possibly go wrong? Set about three episodes into the first season.


**A/N: Amanda's comment in the tag for The First Time about the boys' dentist being close to the Agency in Georgetown got me thinking about the inevitability of a clash between home life and work life… There was also some discrepancies in the scripts due to being broadcast out of order, like the idea of Dotty starting to date Dr. Bain only being introduced in The ACM Kid when their dance dates had already been mentioned. So I have moved that up to be Episode 3 (which is the filming order anyway) to make this work. So, in this re-ordered universe, this takes place just before "If Thoughts Could Kill." This story also meets the FB writing challenge for a story that answers an unresolved plot point.**

* * *

"Okay now, Phillip, Jamie – you wait here for the nurse to call you in, and I will be right back to pick you up, okay?" Amanda glanced apologetically at the dentist's receptionist, then back at the boys. "I have to go drop off some paperwork from when Alexei was staying with us, but the office is just around the corner, so I won't be long."

She reached out and lifted the boys' chins so they were looking at her.

"I can count on you fellas to behave, right? Just sit quietly until you're called and no misbehaving for Dr. Berman, okay?"

"Yeah Mom. No problem Mom" the boys chorused.

For the first time, she noticed Jamie was clutching a skateboard. "Sweetheart, why on earth did you bring that with you?"

Jamie held it closer. "It was still in the backseat from when you picked us up at the park last night and I didn't want to leave it there in case someone broke into the car and stole it."

"Why would anyone want to steal your nasty old board?" sneered Phillip.

"You didn't think it was nasty when you borrowed it to practise that trick yesterday!" said Jamie hotly.

"Yeah, I did and if I was going to break a board trying out that trick, I figgered it would be better if it was your heap of junk!"

Before Jamie could reply and start a full-fledged fight in the dental office, Amanda reached out and pried the skateboard away from him. "Well, Phillip, it's your brother's favorite board and you won't be getting to borrow it again now, will you? Jamie, I'm going to take this back to the car and I promise to hide it under a blanket or something, okay? And besides, the parking lot where I left the car has a very nice boy guarding it and I'm sure no one will break in, okay?"

She waited for Jamie to nod, then chucked him under the chin. "Thank you, Sweetheart." Amanda glanced around the waiting room, her eyes falling on several old copies of National Geographic stacked on the coffee table. "Here," she said picking some up and thrusting them at the boys. "You can read these while you wait. Look there's an article on hailstorms – you can impress Dean over dinner with questions, okay?"

The boys nodded in unison, settling back in their seats and starting to leaf through the colorful pages.

Amanda looked at the receptionist again. "I really won't be long – it's just that this paperwork needs to get in for my Big Sisters thing, and it's so handy that I'm already down here with the boys, and I'm sure they'll behave…"

"It's fine, Mrs. King. I'm sure they'll be no trouble at all," the receptionist answered, with a smile. "They're just like my two boys – brotherly arguments aside, they'll probably behave better without you here. And if they don't, well, we'll just get Dr. Berman to pull some teeth, right guys?"

Phillip and Jamie looked up, then realizing she was joking, went back to their magazines.

"Well, thank you so much. I guess the faster I go, the faster I'll be back," said Amanda, looking relieved. "Bye Fellas! Be good!"

"Bye Mom!"

As she stepped out the door, she heard Jamie whisper loudly to Phillip. "Look! Mine has pictures of naked ladies in it!" She grimaced and paused in the doorway, then shook her head and pulled the door firmly closed behind her. "They'll be fine," she muttered, "If it keeps them from arguing, what's the harm? The nurse will call them in any second now and I'll only be gone fifteen minutes. Twenty, tops."

She stepped out onto the street a few minutes later, grimacing again at the skateboard she was holding. The car was in the lot behind the Agency but she was much closer to the front door. All she needed to do was drop her receipts off to Lee from looking after Alexei – he'd said he get her reimbursed for the extra groceries when she'd made an offhand comment about how much teenage boys eat. And to replace her mother's flowers that he'd trampled. She'd joked about needing money for a memory-wiping drug so that the boys would forget how to shoot craps, but Lee had just smiled and told her it would be better to teach them poker.

" _I won my car with an inside straight – every boy should learn how to gamble." Lee had been grinning from ear to ear like a proud dad at her grumbling about Alexi's bad habits._

" _My eight-year-old doesn't need a Porsche and heaven knows, he shouldn't be playing against anyone who has one to lose! Although he did learn a lesson when he lost his bike."_

 _The smile had vanished off Lee's face. "He didn't really lose it, did he?" he asked with concern._

" _Oh no, no," Amanda reassured him. "It was Alexei who won it from him and of course, I made him give it back, but I let Jamie worry about it for a little while, just to teach him a lesson." She paused and frowned. "Then again, he played against Dean the other night and won a trip to the movies, so maybe he needs another lesson."_

" _Sounds like quite the little shark you have there," said Lee. "Get him in a few back alley games and you might not have to find work after all."_

" _That is not a remotely funny thing to say!" Amanda gave him a frosty look. "People already make quite enough assumptions about children of single mothers without you-"_

" _I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Lee held his hands up in apology. "I heard enough stuff like that growing up – I shouldn't have said it. I'm sorry. Really. Ok?"_

 _He gave her one of those coaxing smiles that she was pretty sure he practised in front of a mirror, and she knew it shouldn't work but between the smile and his gorgeous twinkling eyes, she knew it wasn't even worth pretending to fight._

" _You know," she changed tack, "you never did tell me about your childhood. Alexei said you told him-"_

 _Just like that, his face went blank – smile and twinkle gone._

" _There's nothing to tell," he cut her off. "I didn't have one."_

" _Oh come on, Lee," she answered taken aback at his vehemence. "Everybody has a childhood. I mean, you weren't raised by wolves, were you?"_

 _She watched as he took a deep breath and pasted on an insincere smile. "Almost. But it wasn't wolves, it was the Air Force. And you don't get to be a child there, you get to be a man. So, did you like the panda bear? I'm sorry I forgot you'd have to explain it to your mother. And Dan."_

 _Amanda could almost hear the whooshing sound as the topic got changed. "Dean," she sighed. "You know it's Dean." Lee gave her an overly innocent look and she rolled her eyes and went on. "He's gorgeous – the panda I mean – thank you. And I just lied and told Mother that a friend had dropped him off after I'd bought him at the rummage sale that I lied to her about the other week when I was lying about being married to you. Gosh, don't you ever get tired of all the lying? I mean, I never used to lie to my mother and in the last month alone, I don't think I've said one truthful thing to her."_

" _Comes with the territory," Lee said with a shrug. "So anyway, if you want to total up what you spent on Alexei and drop the receipts at the Agency, I'll get Billy to authorize paying it out of petty cash."_

 _Amanda gave off a small groaning noise. "Petty cash," she whispered. "It sounds so silly when you say that. I mean it is petty, isn't it? But he was there for two nights and there were four meals and it really shouldn't matter, but I have to finish paying for the Christmas gifts I have on layaway for the boys, and I barely have enough to cover that and I know Mr. Melrose said I'd get paid for the hours I spent helping you…"_

" _Amanda, stop beating yourself up about it!" Lee interrupted her. "It's no big deal – it's just the same per diem rate we'd pay anyone for feeding someone on the job or that I get paid when I'm working out of town. It's fine, really."_

" _Really?"_

" _Really. And l shouldn't have dragged you into this anyway – I should have been able to cope with a kid without having to ask for help."_

" _But I was helpful, right?"_

 _Lee sighed, unable to resist the puppy-dog eyes she was giving him. "Yes, Amanda, you were helpful," he conceded._

" _Because, you know, I could be helpful with other things," she said. "Typing, note-taking, making phone calls for you… you know - like an assistant."_

 _Lee sighed. He should have known the puppy-dog eyes were hiding terrier determination. "You missed picking up my dry cleaning and packing my lunches."_

" _Oh no," Amanda said sweetly. "You must have girlfriends who do that for you."_

" _I would never ask them to do that," countered Lee. "That would be child labor, wouldn't it? That's what you said last week, if I recall." He felt a small flash of satisfaction at her embarrassed look._

" _Okay, that was rude of me," she said, pulling herself together, "But at work, you must need-"_

" _I don't need an assistant, Amanda! I do just fine all on my own!" The hopeful look on her face vanished and he felt a pang of guilt for snapping at her. "Okay, look – you bring in a list of things you need reimbursement for and in the meantime, I'll ask Billy to see if there's anything around the steno pool you could be helping with. I'm sure someone needs help this close to year-end. Not me," he repeated. "But you know, someone." He glanced around the lobby, avoiding the gaze of Mrs. Marston who was at the front desk and watching the argument with undisguised interest. "Look, I gotta go – I'll see you around, okay?"_

" _Ok," said Amanda. "See you around."_

 _She watched him disappear into that closet elevator thing and sighed. "He's not going to ask Mr. Melrose anything," she muttered to herself. "He's probably already forgotten he said it."_

* * *

"I'll do the receipts first and then walk around the back to put the skateboard away," Amanda decided. "Then I can go see if that nice fruit stand is set up near the canal again on my way back to the dentist."

Route decided on, Amanda jogged up the front steps of the Agency and opened the door.

"Oh hello, it's Mrs. Marston, isn't it? I'm Amanda King, I don't know if you remember me, but I was helping Mr. Stetson the other week and he asked me to drop off some paperwork and - " She stopped as the older woman held out her hand to take the envelope. Amanda pulled it back against her chest. "Is Mr. Stetson in? I was hoping to get the money back today because well, you know, I wouldn't want to have to come all the way down here again…"

She trailed off as the receptionist continued to hold out her hand. "I'm sorry, Mrs. King, you've just missed Mr. Stetson. He left just a minute before you got here. But if you want to leave it with me, I'll be sure he gets it as soon as he's back."

Amanda chewed her lip for a moment, then dug in her purse for a pen. She rapidly scribbled a note to Lee asking if he could drop off the money at her house later, then handed the envelope to the receptionist, who studied the note with raised eyebrows.

"I didn't have to put the address. He knows where I live," said Amanda feebly.

"I'm sure he does," replied Mrs. Marston serenely, carefully placing the envelope to one side of her desk. "Is there anything else I can help you with, Mrs. King?" she asked, looking up at Amanda.

For one moment, Amanda thought about asking if Mr. Melrose was in, so she could ask him about work, but after a beat, she took a deep breath and turned to the door. "No, that was everything for now, thank you, Mrs. Marston. Maybe we'll meet again sometime." She gave a half-hearted wave and stepped quickly back out onto the street.

"I'm sure we will," smiled Mrs. Marston at the closed door.

Outside, Amanda headed down the street to make her way around the building to the parking lot. Scotty, the nice boy who ran it, had said she could park there since she had Agency business to do. "I'm sure they won't mind if I bend the rules a little bit," he'd said. "Just leave me your keys in case I need to move it at all to let someone out. Those film people go in and out of here at crazy hours all the time."

Amanda was headed to the little kiosk to get her keys back to put the skateboard away when she noticed a commotion out of the corner of her eye. She turned and realized that there were three men in a nearby alley – two she didn't recognize and the third was Lee – who was fighting a losing battle with them. As she watched in horror, one of them knocked him out with a blow to the back of his head and then they began dragging him toward a waiting car.

"Hey! Stop!" she yelled. "What are you doing?"

The men looked up at her, then realizing it was a lone woman with no other help around, they simply carried on dragging Lee to their car, tossing him into the back seat and scrambling into the front to drive off.

Amanda whirled, intent on getting her car to follow them, then realized it was boxed in by Scotty's maneuvers with other cars.

"Oh no," she whimpered, turning to watch the car disappearing down the street. Without another second's hesitation, she dashed into traffic and jumped into a cab.

"Follow that car!" she yelled, pointing at the sedan that was turning the corner two blocks ahead.

"Seriously, Lady?" asked the cabbie, not moving.

"Yes! Yes, seriously!" she yelped. "Those men just kidnapped a friend of mine and they're getting away."

The cabbie gazed at her for a moment before deciding that her fear was real. "Well then, let's go get your friend back." He pulled out into oncoming traffic and shot through the red light, ignoring the honks and yells this produced. "You better not be kidding me, Lady. This could cost me my license you know."

"No, he's really, really been kidnapped," said Amanda. "He's a federal agent and I don't know who those guys were but they knocked him out and put him the back seat so they must be bad guys. His name is Lee Stetson and he's in a lot of trouble – I swear."

"They're headed for Wisconsin Ave," said the cabbie. "Hang on!"

Amanda screamed as he ducked in and out of traffic slowly gaining on the dark car in front of them.

"Lemme call in some friends," said the cabbie, reaching for his radio. "Hey, anybody in the vicinity of 31st and Q – we got a car headed for Wisconsin with a kidnapped FBI guy inside it."

"He's not FBI," Amanda started to say. "He's… you know what, never mind."

"Blue Oldsmobile – licence STR 377" the cabbie was saying into his radio. "Let's Smokey and the Bandit these guys!"

The radio filled with whoops and hollers from other cab drivers.

"Smokey and the Bandit?" asked Amanda.

"We're gonna box 'em in," said the cabbie. He pressed the button on his radio again. "Dispatch, can you call the cops and let them know we'll need some help on Wisconsin in a minute?"

"Those men probably have guns!" said Amanda frantically. "I don't want anyone to get hurt."

"Oh don't you worry, Lady. They won't even know it's happening until it's all over."

Sure enough, as the sedan turned onto the busy thoroughfare ahead, there were already a dozen cabs ahead of them, blocking traffic and all honking loudly. As the sedan pulled up to the back of the jam, more cabs appeared around them, carefully blocking any escape route. The cab Amanda was in pulled in directly behind it and Amanda watched as the two guys in the front seat slowly realized they were trapped and began yelling and pounding the dashboard in frustration

When the sound of sirens became audible over the honking, the two men began to look around frantically and tried to get out of their car to run. The driver was trapped by a cab that had pulled in too closely for him to open his door, but the guy on the passenger side managed to get his open just enough to wriggle free.

"Hit 'em Lady!" yelled the driver. "Don't let him get away now!"

"Whaaaat?" shrieked Amanda before realizing a split second later that she was still holding Jamie's skateboard. She lunged across to the open window and stuck it out sideways, catching the man right across his stomach as he tried to run past. He doubled over and with unexpected strength from the adrenaline, Amanda snapped the skateboard up and hit him in the nose. As he dropped to the ground screaming in pain, the skateboard continued its upward momentum, cracking against the window frame.

"I'm really sorry about that!" gasped Amanda. "I'm sure the government will pay for any damages!"

"No problem Lady – it's just a scratch and I'm going to have quite the story to tell people about it, ain't I?"

The police were now swarming around the thugs and as the cabs pulled away to make room for them, Amanda jumped out of her cab and ran to the sedan, arriving just as someone pulled a bruised and dishevelled Lee upright.

"Oh my gosh, Lee, are you ok?" she asked, racing forward to run her hand over his face.

"Amanda? What the hell are you doing here?" asked Lee, wincing as she reached a small scrape on his forehead.

"Well, I saw you being kidnapped and I didn't have time to grab my car so I hopped in a cab and this nice man called all his cab friends and they surrounded the bad guys and called the police and then they tried to get away but the one guy got stuck and the other one ran past me and I hit him with the skateboard and he fell down and then the police got here and-"

"Oh my God, stop! Stop talking!" Lee groaned. "Just let me catch my breath for a second, will ya?" His eyes closed and his head dropped slightly.

Amanda went silent, still crouched in front of him and holding one of his hands with a look of concern. Finally he lifted his head and looked around blearily at all the activity around them.

"You caused all this?" he asked.

"Well, you needed help," said Amanda. "So I… helped."

"How were you even there?" he asked, still mystified.

"Well, I was bringing in those receipts like you asked and I left them with Mrs. Marston because she said you'd left and I had just enough time to get to that fruit stand over by the canal before I had to get back to pick up OH MY GOSH!"

Amanda shot to her feet and looked around wildly.

"What is it? What's the matter?" Lee leapt up and looked around wildly too, half expecting another attack.

"Jamie and Phillip! They're still at the dentist! I said I was going to be right back! I have to get back there!"

Amanda, calm down, it's ok," said Lee, relieved that it was just a domestic problem. "We'll get you back there." He looked around and smiled wryly at her. "Let me just call you a cab."

Amanda looked around too and started to laugh. "Looks like you already did."

Lee chuckled and pulled out his badge for the cop. "Officer? Mrs. King here needs to get back to her kids – I can get a statement from her later."

The police officer looked between them doubtfully but couldn't resist Amanda's pleading expression. "Yeah okay."

Amanda's cabbie tapped her on the shoulder. "Come on Lady, I'll get you back there. No charge. This was the most fun I've had in years."

"You'll be okay?" Amanda asked Lee, worriedly.

"I'll be fine – you get going," he reassured her. He led her back to the cab and helped her in, holding her hand for a moment after he'd did so. "Amanda? Look, I still don't really know what happened or how you managed this…" He made a sweeping gesture at the traffic chaos and the two guys who were being bundled into a police car. "But uh, thank you. I'm really grateful."

"No problem," she said cheerfully. "I'm glad I could help. And that you're okay." She started to climb into the cab then popped right back out like a jack-in-the box. "Oh! So, should I come into the Agency to give my statement or do you want to meet somewhere…"

"Wearing our trenchcoats?" he finished. "No, it's fine, Amanda, you don't really need to give a statement."

"You told that police officer you'd get one from me."

"Well, I just told him that so that you could get away more quickly." He glanced at his watch. "Won't the boys be waiting?"

"Well, yes," she said in a doubtful tone. "But what do you mean you don't need a statement from me? I mean I'm a witness to all this, right? I mean, I'm more than a witness, right? I… well, I kind of rescued you, didn't I?"

All Lee wanted in the world right now – other than an aspirin for his splitting headache – was to get Amanda King as far as possible from this entire debacle. It was bad enough that he knew the story was going to spread far and wide that he'd managed to get himself kidnapped practically right off the front doorstep of the Agency in broad daylight – but the idea that anyone would know he'd been rescued by a housewife? For the second time? Unbearable.

And besides which, even after only a short acquaintance with Amanda, he recognized that look in her eye: she was enjoying playing at spy and if he gave her even an inch right now, she'd want to be even more _involved._ She just didn't understand how dangerous this was, for her and for her family to be involved in things like this. She wasn't trained, she didn't think, she was like a kitten in a cage full of tigers and no way in hell was he going to let anyone else get hurt on his watch.

He realized Amanda was still looking at him expectantly. He shuddered mentally, then took a deep breath and prepared to kick the puppy. The kitten. God, this whole thing was making his head spin.

"I mean, I did, right? I led them right to you," Amanda was saying.

"Well, you were definitely a witness, he acknowledged. "But uh…" He thought furiously, trying to see a way to discourage her. The solution struck him and he straightened up and mustered his best condescending expression. "But was it your idea to get all the cabs to box him in?"

"Well, no," admitted Amanda, taken aback. "But it was me that followed you and told the cabs you needed help!"

"But you didn't really do any of the actual rescuing, did you? That was all these guys." He waved around at the collection of cabs and police cars.

The light in her eye dimmed and Lee had to fight to maintain the arrogant look he'd adopted. Then suddenly the light was back and he braced himself.

"Well, I stopped the second guy from getting away!"

"Oh really?" Lee glanced at the cabbie who nodded in confirmation.

"Oh yeah - you should have seen her take that guy out with the skateboard. I said hit him and boy, did she ever."

 _Skateboard?_ Lee shook his now throbbing head – he must have heard that wrong.

"Well, I suppose you might have some information we can use," he said in his most dismissive tone. "I'll get Francine to call you later for your statement, okay?"

Amanda looked disappointed. "Francine? You mean you're not… you know what, never mind. It was silly of me to think such a senior agent would-"

"Amanda? The boys?" Lee looked at his watch pointedly before she could make him feel even guiltier. That turned out to be the magic words.

"Oh yes! You're right! I should be going. You take care now, you hear me? Promise me you'll get someone to check that head of yours."

As Amanda settled back into the cab, Lee leaned into the cabbie's window and handed him a card. "And thank you too – can you check in with me at this number later? I will need a statement from you on what happened here." The cabbie nodded and Lee lowered his voice and went on, "And if you could get her back to her kids without anything else happening today – well, it would be a miracle, but I'd really be grateful." He slipped the driver a $20 bill with a wry look.

"No problem," said the cabbie cheerfully. "Like I said, I'da done it for free. She's a pistol, that one."

Lee watched the cab until it was out of sight, sighing with relief as it disappeared. That woman was going to drive him crazy. He made a mental note to make sure that the petty cash got couriered to her – no way was he going over there to deliver it, not when he knew he'd get that doe-eyed look again. He looked around at the mayhem in disbelief. She might drive him crazy, but boy, she sure did come in useful sometimes.

Five minutes later, Amanda burst into the dentist office just as Phillip and Jamie emerged from the back.

"What the matter, Mom?" asked Jamie. "You look kinda frazzled."

"What? Me. No, I'm not frazzled, Sweetheart, I just, well, I just lost track of time and had to run back here, that's all."

"How come you still have my skateboard? I thought you were going to put it back in the car?"

Amanda looked down and realized for the first time that she was still clutching it. "Oh, well, I was going to and then I guess, well I guess I just got distracted."

She handed it back to him, only to have Jamie look up with a pained expression. "What did you do to it, Mom? One of the wheels is broken!"

"It is? Are you sure it wasn't broken before?"

"No, it wasn't! I'm sure it wasn't!" whined Jamie. "Did you knock it against something?"

Amanda had a mental flash of the sickening thud the skateboard had made when it connected with the bad guy's face. "I guess I must have, Sweetheart," she said. "I'm so sorry. But you know what? I bet Dean can fix it – he's pretty good at stuff like that."

"But it's my favorite one," whined Jamie. "And he only comes over on Mondays and Thursdays and every other Saturday and it's only Tuesday today! And on Thursdays he always wants to watch those documentaries on TV with you. So he won't get around to it for _days_!"

Amanda blinked – when Jamie said it, her evenings with Dean sounded so _boring_. But then again, she certainly didn't need any more excitement in her life these days, did she? Not with all the spying and everything.

She sighed remembering how Lee had managed to wave off even taking her statement when she'd just saved him from a kidnapping.

"If he didn't think that was helpful, he's never going to ask Mr. Melrose to find me work," she muttered. "What was I thinking, believing he would?"

* * *

 _A few days later…_

Lee pushed his wheelchair back and forth across the hospital room, arguing with Billy as he did so.

"You won't take your medicine, and you won't stay off your leg!" said Billy, voice rising.

Lee looked up, his face etched with frustration. "Whose side are you on, anyway?"

"Look," Billy sighed. "If I can provide you with someone from the Agency to ease the situation, to run interference with the hospital staff, would you just . . . last out the three days and stay off the knee?"

Lee stopped the wheelchair and looked up hopefully. "Like an assistant? Somebody to help with the phone calls, the paperwork, bring a pizza?"

"Yes," said Billy.

Lee thought it over. This was perfect – another agent would probably hate the hospital as much as he did and would have a sympathy for a guy who just wanted to get the hell out of here. Or better yet, maybe it could be one of the girls from the steno pool – _Jessica maybe, she's pretty cute_ … _If I have to be stuck in here, at least I might have some fun._

There was something about the way Billy was being so nice that made his Spidey senses tingle but he really couldn't see a downside to it. Best not let Billy know he was hoping for Jessica though. _Play it cool, Stetson_.

"Sounds okay, he said grudgingly. "When could he start?"

"Almost immediately," said his boss, getting up and opening the hospital room door.

Lee felt his stomach drop. "Oh, my god," he couldn't help saying as he stared in disbelief at Amanda King walking in, wearing the bright blue uniform of a hospital volunteer.

"Billy!" Lee turned to him to protest but the smile on Billy's face told him he'd been well and truly snookered.

It had been days since Mirnov had tried to kidnap him, and despite all sorts of hints from Billy, he had managed to keep Amanda safely away from the Agency and vice versa… but here she was again like a bad penny.

He looked back at Amanda, who was smiling and blushing as Billy told him pointedly how _delighted_ he must be to have her to help him, and he fought to push down the nasty retort that had sprung to his lips. She looked so happy to be helping and he just couldn't bring himself to kick her out. "Sounds very…okay," he allowed at last, and watched with dismay as Amanda's face lit up with That Look.

He turned to glare at Billy who greeted it with a satisfied chuckle.

 _Oh you're laughing now, Melrose but I'll get even with you for this. You are going to pay._

Billy gave him a mock salute that said he knew exactly what Lee was thinking and waltzed out of the room. Lee snarled under his breath and turned to Amanda who was looking expectant.

"You want to be helpful? Get me out of this stupid room," he grumbled.

"Absolutely," she said in a perky tone that was already annoying him. "I'm sure you'll be a better mood in no time once you stop staring at these four walls! I'll take you out into the hospital garden – there's just nothing like sunshine and fresh air to make a person feel better. I think it's really just the best medicine, you know? Sometimes when I get a headache, well I just go out into my backyard and sit out there where it's peaceful…"

The rambling discourse continued as she pushed his chair out of the room. Lee's thoughts drifted back to Billy's complaints of a few minutes before and that's when he realized what he needed to do. _If I can make that bruiser nurse crazy in just one day, I can drive Amanda away in less than that. You think you've stuck me with her, Billy Melrose? Think again, because two can play at that game._

Amanda was still in full flight about the wonders of nature when he put his plan into action.

"So Little Mary Sunshine… Are you really a hospital volunteer or did Billy dig up that outfit?" he snarled, interrupting her and hearing the slight intake of breath that suggested he'd hurt her feelings.

 _Good_ he thought. _Give me a day and I'll have you safe and sound back in the suburbs where you belong._


End file.
